Sanwar Lal Jat, former Union minister and BJP MP from Ajmer, passed away in New Delhi on 9th August 2017. The minister was being treated at AIIMS hospital in Delhi. He was suffered with a cardiac arrest and collapsed during a meeting chaired by BJP party president Amit Shah at Jaipur in July, after that he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the city’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital.From there also, he was airlifted to AIIMS from Jaipur after his condition turned critical. He slipped into coma later. According to the AIIMS doctors, the cardiac arrest had caused damage to his brain and he had to be put on a ventilator.More about Sanwar Lal Jat

He was born in 1955, and was a professor with an M. Com degree and Ph.D. before joining politics.

He is survived by his wife Narbada and two sons and a daughter.

He served as a member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly for a total of five terms.

He also served as a Cabinet Minister in the Rajasthan Government three times. He held portfolios of PHED, irrigation, CAD, Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana and Ground Water Development.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ajmer constituency in 2014 after defeating Congress candidate Sachin Pilot.

He also served as the Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Narendra Modi government until July 2016.

A high-intensity earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale struck China on 8th August 2017. The quake that struck a remote, mountainous part of Sichuan province has claimed lives of miinimum 19 people, including six tourists, and injured around 250 people.As per the reports shared by China Earthquake Networks Center, the quake's epicentre was located in the popular tourist destination of Jiuzhaigou of an estimated depth of 20 kilometres.Jiuzhaigou or Jiuzhai Valley is a national park known for spectacular waterfalls and karst formations. It is located on the edge of the Plateau in northern Sichuan province, which is a home to many Tibetan and other ethnic minority villages.

The state-run Xinhua news agency informed that approximately 31500 tourists had been evacuated from the quake zone. Officials said that a total of 108 aftershocks were recorded, these all were below 4.0 magnitude. Police and firefighters are still rescuing people trapped in that rubble.Hours after the last night's 7- magnitude, another 6.6-magnitude earthquake jolted the Jinghe County in northwest China's Xinjiang in the morning of 9th August 2017. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the remote areas.Xi Jinping who is the Chinese President has called for all-out efforts organize relief work and rescue the injured people after the quake on priority and rapidly.Sichuan province is prone to earthquakes as there more than 70 thousand people were killed in a quake back in 2008.

$270 m from Green Climate Fund to be raised by - Maharashtra Government

The state government of Maharashtra is planning to raise $270 million from the Green Climate Fund by takin ghelp from the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030WRG).The government isnplanning to invest the funds raised in integrated watershed programs such as Jalyukt Shivar Yojana and that has successfully improved the ground water level in drought affected areas of the same state. However, the ground water needs to be further connected with the efficient use of water and for that proper technology and infrastructural development is needed at the village level, where the funds will be coming useful.

It will further be used in crop diversification and to add market linkages. Green Climate Fund is a new fund under the UN that is guided by the principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Former West Bengal Minister Gyan Singh Sohanpal died on - 8th August 2017

Gyan Singh Sohanpal, former West Bengal Minister and freedom fighter, passed away on 8th August 2017. He was one among the few people who shared the stage with Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi.More about Gyan Singh Sohanpal

Fondly called 'Chacha' by all, Sohanpal started his political life by joining the Congress during the 1942 Quit India movement.

He made his entry into the West Bengal state assembly in 1969 from the Kharagpur constituency that time which was called Midnapore district.

He was elected 10 times to the West Bengal assembly and was defeated in 2016 assembly election in the state.He served as Transport Minister from 1972 to 1977 during the Chief Ministerial stint of Siddhartha Shankar Ray.

In May 2011, He was sworn in as the Speaker of Legislative Assembly by Governor M K Narayanan.

Other than politics, he also gave services to newspapers and other publications, covering news from Kharagpur.

Slumdog Millionaire actor Dev Patel was honored by the Asia Society for making a transformative and positive difference for the future of Asia and the world with the Asian Game Changer Award 2017. As per the Asia Society, Dev Patel's roles in 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Lion' challenge the audiences to view India's poor as individuals instilled with dreams, hopes and opportunities, not as desperate masses.

Patel has also established lasting ties with India with his campaign named "lionheart" that has raised more than USD 250000 to support homeless children in India.

The other Asian Game Changer awardees of 2017 are Tadashi Yanai who is the founder of clothing retailing chain UNIQLO, Afghan rapper Sonita Alizadeh and Mongolian Eagle huntress Aisholpan Nurgaiv. Along with that, The Asia Game Changer Lifetime Achievement Award was bagged by Aga Khan. All these awardees will going to be honoured with the award by United Nations on 1st November 2017.

Citizens of 80 countries including India can now enter Qatar without visa announced on - 9th August 2017

The Qatari government announced that citizens belonging to 80 countries including India, Canada, US and UK can now enter Qatar without the need of applying for a visa on 9th August 2017.The Qatar officials stated during the release that Citizens of 80 countries including UK, US,India,Canada, South Africa, Seychelles, Australia and New Zealand wishing to visit Qatar will no longer need to apply or pay for a visa.The release further stated that the visitors from the selected countries would be issued a multi-entry waiver which will be fully free-of-cost, at the point of entry upon presentation of a valid passport having a minimum validity of six months and a confirmed onward or return ticket.Important Highlights

The waiver will either be valid for 6 months or for 30 days, depending upon the nationality of the visitor, entitling the person to spend only those many days in the country.

However the visitor would be given a window to apply for an extension of the waiver for an additional of 30 days.

By making nationals of 80 countries eligible for a free visa waiver upon arrival, Qatar has now become the most open country in the area.

The move's main aim is to encourage more people to travel to the nation and discover its cultural heritage, renowned hospitality and natural treasures.

Program to improve Mobile Developer Ecosystem launched by - Google and NSDC

The NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation ) and Google India launched Android Skill Development program to improve Mobile Developer Ecosystem on 8th August 2017.

The program is aimed at imparting mobile development training on the Android and Web platform and improving the quality of mobile app development ecosystem in India. NSDC is a public-private partnership enterprise under the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Highlights of the program

Under the initiative, NSDC will be introducing a specific course to create applications for the mobile platform that can be used on smartphones and tablets running on the Android operating system.

NSDC and Google India will also going to work together to focus on up-skilling Android trainers under the program.

The program will be accelerating mobile skill training and create opportunities for the youth in the country as well.

The program will also focus on achieving the target of the Union Government's Skill India initiative.

Web portal to enable online orders for textbooks launched by - NCERT

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) launched a web portal that will enable schools and individuals to place orders for their books online on 9th August 2017. Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha launched this portal in New Delhi.The portal will be ensuring better distribution of textbooks across the country. This Portal can be accessed at www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in.Important facts

It will also be addressing the apprehensions, on the part of schools and parents, regarding the unavailability of NCERT textbooks.

The schools can log on to the portal, by entering their respective Boards’ affiliation numbers and other details, till 8th September 2017 for placing their orders of the session 2018-19.

Payment can be made by the schools before the supply of books only not at the time of placing the orders.

The schools can also procure textbooks directly either from their nearest NCERT vendors or from the Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) of the NCERT’s located at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Bengaluru.

An official release said, very soon the portal will also be opened to the individual buyers.

It says that the individual buyers can place their orders by login in onto the portal, and books will be delivered at their doorsteps with nominal postal charges.

Website www.ncert.nic.in provides the option to download the NCERT books free of cost.

One can access the digital versions of NCERT’s textbook by logging onto ‘epathshala’ or through mobile applications. NCERT also gives copyrights to different States/Union Territories for printing of its textbooks. Fifteen States and UTs have been given copyright for the session 2017-18.

The portal will also enable the buyers to track the status of their respective orders placed with NCERT.

India ratifies second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol on - 8th August 2017

India ratified the Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol on 8th August 2017 on containing the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). India's Permanent Mission during a brief statement to the United Nations (UN) stated that India deposited its Instrument of Acceptance of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol under the UN Convention on Climate Change.ndia became the 80th country with this ratification to accept the amendment relating to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.More about Kyoto Protocol

It is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 (UNFCCC) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11th December 1997.

It entered into force on 16th February 2005.

There are 192 parties to the Protocol at present. But, Canada withdrew from that protocol in December 2012.

It implements the objective of the UNFCCC to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthro pogenic interference with the climate system."

Its first commitment period started in 2008 but commenced in 2012.

The amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the Second Commitment Period were successfully adopted for the period 2013-2020 at Doha in 2012.

For the measures to be taken for the second commitment period commencement , negotiations were held in the framework of the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference every year.

Second round of National Deworming Day program covers 11 Cr children on - 10th August 2017

The second round of National Deworming Day (NDD) was held across the nation on 10th August 2017 to tackle worm infections targeting more than 11 Crore children.The Health Ministry stated that among the total number of children, at least 7.8 Crore were from private schools while the rest, 3.5 Crore were out of school children. The out of school children were covered through Anganwadi workers and ASHAs. Follow-up activities would be held later on 17 August, which will cover 31 Cr children.Key Details

The National Deworming Day program was launched in 2015.

The day is organized twice a year in the country except for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where it is observed just once in a year.

Under this program, children between the age of 1 and 19 are provided with deworming tablets.

The first round of the program this year was held in February during which close to 26 Cr children were covered.

The estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO) have revealed that around 220 million children who are below 14 years in India stand the risk of getting soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) infections.

In the first-ever round of NDD, in February 2015, around 8.9 Crore children were administered the deworming tablet across 11 states and Union territories, achieving almost 85 percent coverage.

The following year found at least 25 Crore children getting covered in February and 12 Crore in August.

According to the Health Ministry, the deworming program can significantly improve the nutritional status of children. The ministry also confirmed that the deworming tablet, Albendazole, is a perfectly safe drug.Besides administering tablets, various health promotion activities related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) were also organised in various schools and anganwadis.